Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my last question is does the Minister see this as a waste of money that we would have to invest in the expansion of this facility to have the facility up and running by late next year, whereas we're going to have to tear it down in a couple years and build a new one? Thank you.

Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, I don't see this as a waste of money or we wouldn't be doing it. Mr. Speaker, we have to do something immediately to improve the security measures at the airport. A good portion of the funding is coming from the federal government. At this point, we have no other resources to relocate the facility, which would cost probably three times as much as what we're investing now. The lifespan of this facility will be increased by potentially 15 years, so we feel it's a worthwhile investment. Thank you.

Item 7, oral questions. Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have an issue I would like to bring forward to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. The issue has probably been roaming in the minds of many northern drivers and will soon be roaming in the minds of many NWT golfers and probably residents of Yellowknife if not addressed soon. This is concerning the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary herd. As everybody is aware, the new road system has had some major developments and improvements in the last few years which has allowed drivers to reach their destinations a little quicker, which means they're going a little faster. That, along with the significant increase in the number of bison and traffic over the last five years, I just want to ask the Minister what steps the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is going to be taking, if any, in the near future to address the rising number of occurrences of vehicle-related accidents on our highway system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it is a very serious and potentially dangerous issue and I would like to tell the Member and assure the House that we have been in discussions for some time now with the Department of Transportation as to how to best address this issue and do what we can to keep buffalo off the highways. It would be nice if they did it on their own, but unfortunately it's nice travelling on the highways and probably relatively, if you consider going into the deep bush, bug-free compared to that. So the buffalo seem to naturally gravitate toward the highways. But we are working with Transportation to look at a number of options because it is very potentially dangerous to have them on the road. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for his answer. I just want to know if the Minister is willing to commit his department to developing a strategy which will address the growing number of bison in all the sanctuaries of the NWT, which include five, I believe. Also, outside the community of Deninu Kue where the Hook Lake herd has basically developed into a herd in itself, I guess, by government standards. I'm just curious as to what initiatives the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development is going to undertake to help these communities to develop some kind of sustainable management action plan to work with these herds because as in this budget address the funding for the management of that herd is reduced significantly, by about 30 percent, when actually the herd has probably grown by the same percentage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you. Specific to the Hook Lake Wood Bison Recovery Project, that herd was developed and isolated to have a disease-free herd. I think we, as the Member indicates, have achieved that. The herd has grown nicely and we are now looking at a number of options going forward as to what the best approach might be here. I think it's critical to point out that we have approached the community of Fort Resolution to work in conjunction with them. There are a number of options on the table. It's important, though, that we pursue an option that the community feels best suits their needs, and we're prepared to do that. Thank you.

Item 7, oral questions. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Premier provided the right answer today when asked by the Member for the Sahtu whether or not this government is prepared to, in correspondence with the federal government's initiative, form some kind of a committee with a mandate to oversee some of the issues related to the pipeline. I think that time is of the essence on this. There are lots of communities that are waiting with a great deal of anticipation to learn how they can plug in and benefit from a lot of different benefits which may accrue to northerners as a result of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

So I want to talk about the appointment of such a committee, the formation of such a committee, and what might be in their mandate. I want to ask the Premier why this government would limit their interest in assisting people to issues of socioeconomic agreements, training and ownership. Those are the three that he mentioned. Why would other things be outside of that? I know from his visit to Hay River and other communities, he knows that there are other types of interest that communities have in terms of participation, and even in the environmental review process, things like that. It takes investment and finances to participate in some of these things, and I don't want to see northerners precluded from doing that. This is a very big event and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity really to realize significant participation in this. So could the Premier speak to the issue of why just the three things that he mentioned would be exclusively the interest of this government? Thank you.

Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for further clarification, the three things that I mentioned weren't meant as a comprehensive list of everything we were going to do. I think there are a lot of areas where we assist communities, whether it's in economic development or training, contracting, value-added benefits. There are a whole bunch. I didn't list them all. I was answering the question which was asked specifically with regard to impact benefit agreements and access agreements. Those are things that would flow out of the claims and so on. So those are issues that we have not historically gotten involved in; certainly not gotten involved in with the mining operations. The access and benefit agreements are things that will be negotiated, I am sure, by the aboriginal governments and communities along the pipeline right-of-way, but that's something that is not part of what we have been involved in in the mining sector. As I said, I expect that will be the same case with the pipeline. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess that's my point. I find that interesting, because these are our communities, these are our constituents, and I don't know why we would limit our interests in seeing benefits flow just to these things that have been mentioned. I don't know why we wouldn't want to assist. So if a community or a corporation or an aboriginal government were interested in some of these things that the Premier has referred to, where's the office, where's the central agency, where's the access, where's the entry point, where's the window for them to get support from this government? Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development does have a section or a secretariat, division -- I'm not sure what it's called -- that deals with Mackenzie Valley development and it deals very much with the pipeline readiness. So that would be the window right now for people who are interested in information on what assistance may be made available. Mr. Speaker, I like the suggestion that was made by the Member for Sahtu today, that we set up a ministerial-lead joint committee that would look at the issues around the pipeline, and that's something that we're ready to pursue immediately. In fact, it will be, I am sure, on the agenda for our Cabinet strategy meeting tomorrow. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to hear that because that was one question I was going to ask. I was going to ask what kind of a timetable, because, as I said at the beginning of my preamble on my first question, time is of the essence. So we need to move on this fairly quickly, and we need to be very proactive. I don't think the Premier's reference to a department of which he didn't know the name in RWED is really that visible a source of support or information for communities and other governments. So I want to know what the plan is to raise the visibility of the initiatives this government is willing to take with respect to assisting people to realize the benefits from the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I would be pleased to provide the Members with a list or a description of the mandate of the Mackenzie Valley planning group in RWED, in terms of the mandate that they have. There may be other areas that we would want to consider as a government for providing further assistance. There are certainly other parts of our government that provide assistance, through Education, MACA and other areas. So there are a lot of services that we provide to those who are interested in economic opportunities, including the pipeline but not limited to the pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, I think the best way of dealing with this...I like the suggestion of setting up a joint committee, and that may be the way of identifying what the issues are and moving forward proactively. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.